Arizona Cardinal Coaching Candidates

Andy Reid - it looks like he's headed to the Chiefs.  I'm honestly not too broken up about that as it sounds like he wants a lot of control over much of the football operations.  I'm a firm believer that you need to keep the coaching duties and front office duties separate, when any one person gains too much control things start to get a bit off kilter (as they did with Ken Whisenhunt when he gained more player personnel say the last couple of years). 

Ray Horton - he's done an outstanding job with the Cardinals defense and seems to have a lot of respect in the Cardinals lockeroom.  I could live with him as head coach, only on the condition that he bring in an experienced offensive coordinator to run the offense though (and rumor has it that he does have ties to Norv Turner from his playing days with the Cowboys).  The big downside to hiring Horton as the head coach is that you'd lose him as the defensive coordinator as he was already said he wouldn't be calling the defensive plays if he's named head coach.  It's probably safe to say that they'd be running the same defensive schemes though. 

Todd Haley - the Bidwells apparently are big fans of Todd Haley and given his offensive pedigree (and the Cardinals offensive struggles), he might make sense with the Cardinals, especially if they would be able to retain Horton as the Defensive Coordinator.  If hiring Haley as head coach meant losing Horton though, I think I'd probably just as soon see them go with Horton. 

Mike McCoy - he's the current offensive coordinator for the Broncos.  He won last year with Tim Tebow and this year with Peyton Manning and those two couldn't be more different, that would bode well for him with whoever ends up at QB for the Cardinals next year.  He's in demand, the Bills, Bears and Eagles will also be interviewing him.  I think it's only a matter of time before he's a head coach somewhere.

Bill O'Brien - he seems to have impressed a lot of people with how he's handled the mess at Penn State, he's also got NFL experience with the Patriots.  He's also an offensive guy too so that would be a plus for the Cardinals. 

I haven't heard many rumblings about Lovie Smith or Chip Kelly, I doubt that they go in that direction though.  At this point I'm guessing they'll be going with Horton or Haley, but you never know, a darkhorse could certainly still emerge (Bill Cowher?  Doug Marrone?  Bruce Arians?  Mike Holmgren?).  Don't scoff at the big name suggestions, the Bidwells have brought in Buddy Ryan and Dennis Green in the past, they're not afraid to go big when the situation calls for it.


****Edits****

-Add Jay Gruden to the list of possible Cardinals candidates. 
 
-Andy Reid has been hired to coach the Kansas City Chiefs.
-Doug Marrone has been hired to coach the Buffalo Bills.
-Remaining openings:  Cardinals, Bears, Chargers, Eagles & Browns.